Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Shark jumps into fishing boat; angler plans to stuff it

The fishing was so good in the Gulf of Mexico that the fish were jumping into the boat.

Well, one fish, anyway. One very large fish.

Jason Kresse and two of his crew members were cleaning their catch of red snapper about 50 miles off Texas around 3:45 a.m. Monday when they heard two big splashes in the distance, according to the Associated Press.

"All of a sudden, something hit the side of the boat," Kresse told AP. "He ends up landing on the back of the boat."

"He" was a mako shark, obviously lured in by the fish guts the fishermen were tossing into the water.

Mako sharks are known for their jumping ability, but probably not for the good sense to avoid jumping into boats.

Mako sharks are also known for their tenacity and raging anger and very sharp teeth when on the deck of a fishing boat. This 375-pound mako shark thrashed around so much, the fishermen were helpless to try to toss it back overboard.

So the shark continued to thrash away, doing an unknown amount of damage to the boat before dying on the deck.

Unloading red snapper is one thing, but a 375-pound mako shark? Kresse said a forklift was used to get the shark off the boat. It eventually wound up on display at a seafood business in Freeport, 55 miles from Houston. Sounds as if Kresse plans to make it a permanent display.

"I'm going to get a mount of it," he said. "A fish jumping in your boat, 400 pounds, that's unbelievable."

It really is incredible. We're not certain, but this might be a world record under the "mako shark, jumping into boat" category.

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